The Minnesota Court of Appeals has sent the case of a transgender powerlifter back to Ramsey County District to determine whether she was barred from participating in women’s competitions because of her sexual orientation.

A year ago, Ramsey County District Judge Patrick Diamond sided with JayCee Cooper, then 35, of Minneapolis, finding that USA Powerlifting engaged in discriminatory practices by prohibiting the transgender athlete from competing.

A claim of an unfair performance advantage because of sexual orientation or sex — as USA Powerlifting officials have contended — is not a reason to discriminate, Diamond wrote in his Feb. 27, 2023, ruling. The judge ordered the Alaska-based organization to “cease and desist from the unfair discriminatory practice” and to revise its policies within two weeks.

In its decision released Monday, the appellate court affirmed that discrimination against athletes based on gender identity violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

However, the appellate court found Diamond erred by granting Cooper’s motion for partial summary judgment on Cooper’s claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation in a place of public accommodations and in business, “because there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether USAPL’s decision to exclude Cooper … was motivated by her sexual orientation (i.e., transgender status).”

The appellate court reversed the district court’s Feb. 27, 2023, and April 11, 2023, orders for injunctive relief.

“We remand the case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” the ruling read.

Policy question

Attorneys for Gender Justice filed the lawsuit against USA Powerlifting and USA Powerlifting Minnesota on behalf of Cooper in June 2021, alleging violations of Minnesota’s Human Rights Act. The lawsuit came two years after the St. Paul-based legal and policy advocacy group filed a charge of discrimination with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

According to the 2021 lawsuit, Cooper had trained for and registered in 2018 to compete in the 2019 USAPL Minnesota State Bench Press Championship in Maplewood and the Minnesota Women’s State Championship.

A USAPL medical doctor emailed Cooper, informing her that she was ineligible to compete. The emailed explanation read “male-to-female transgenders are not allowed to compete as females in our static strength sport as it is a direct competitive advantage,” the lawsuit states.

At the time, USAPL had no express policy regarding participation in competition by transgender athletes, according to the lawsuit. USAPL revoked Cooper’s competition card, and later issued a formal policy banning all transgender women from participating in its competitions, according to the lawsuit.

USA Powerlifting contends it did not exclude Cooper because she is transgender. The organization had argued to the appellate court that it excluded Cooper from the women’s division of its competition for a non-discriminatory reason: that she has male physiology, which gives her “unmitigated strength advantages that would compromise principles of fair athletic competition.”

After last year’s lower court ruling, USAPL submitted a proposed policy in April 2023 that would allow a transgender woman to compete in USAPL’s women’s division if she declared her gender to be female, had conforming government identification and maintained a testosterone level below a certain numerical level, according to Monday’s opinion.

The district court held a hearing on USAPL’s proposed policy on April 11, 2023 and Diamond ruled from the bench that the proposed policy does not comply with the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Diamond said at the time that USAPL “is enjoined from holding any events in the state of Minnesota, competitive or otherwise” and “is similarly enjoined . . . from selling memberships to identified residents of the state of Minnesota” until USAPL submits a proposed policy that complies with the MHRA.

Jess Braverman, legal director for Gender Justice, said in a Monday statement they believe it is “crystal clear” that Cooper was not allowed to compete because of her sexual orientation, “and we are confident that the courts will ultimately agree.”

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Last year around this time, the Wild lost Joel Eriksson Ek at the worst possible time, and while Minnesota is expecting him back before the regular season ends, the team will play at least two more games without their top line center.

The team’s second-leading scorer with 29 goals and 60 points, Eriksson Ek missed the Wild past two games and didn’t travel to Southern California for back-to-backs against Anaheim on Tuesday and Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“He’s rehabbing, and getting treatments, things like that,” coach John Hynes told reporters after a practice Monday afternoon at the Ducks’ Honda Center. “So, I think it’s probably more beneficial for him to do it there, have more time, and more facilities than you do sometimes on the road.”

Last year, Eriksson Ek suffered a broken fibula when he blocked a shot in an April 6 game against Pittsburgh and missed all but one aborted shift in a first-round playoff series against Dallas. The Wild lost in six games.

This year, Minnesota is fighting for a postseason spot as the regular season winds down, and will do it without Eriksson Ek at least until Saturday’s afternoon game against St. Louis at Xcel Energy Center. Eriksson Ek, who left a 4-1 victory over Arizona in March 12 with a lower body injury, is tied with Kirill Kaprizov with a team-high 12 power play goals, leads the team in faceoff percentage (49.4) and is a top-unit penalty killer.

After Saturday’s game against the Blues, the Wild have four days off before playing host to San Jose next Thursday.

“Whether it is Saturday, that’s a possibility, (but) I’m not sure,” Hynes told reporters who traveled to Anaheim. “But if it’s not, I would assume after that, with a little bit of that four days in between games that we have, the schedule certainly lends itself to (that).”

Specials practice

With Eriksson Ek out, the Wild included rookie center Marat Khusnutdinov in both special teams units during practice on Monday.

Khusnutdinov, 21, has played in just two games since signing an entry-level contract on Feb. 29. He has no points and a zero plus/minus in a combined 21:15 of ice time, with only 9 seconds of power play time on special teams.

“He is a penalty killer, (but) we didn’t really have a chance to practice it with him with all the 5-on-5 stuff and everything, plus a little power play,” Hynes told reporters. “Today was a good day to give him some reps on the penalty kill, plus the power play, just to get a feel for him.”

Briefly

— Adam Beckman appears set to return to the lineup on Tuesday. A third-round pick in the 2019 entry draft, Beckman, 22, has played in 15 NHL games over parts of the past three seasons. He was recalled on March 7 and has been a healthy scratch the past three games. “It wasn’t a thing where he came out because of something we don’t like, and he knows that,” Hynes said, “and we’ll look to give him another opportunity tomorrow.”

— The Wild signed 2023 second-round pick forward Rasmus Kumpulainen, 18, to a three-year, entry-level contract starting next season. In 53 games with major junior Oshawa of the OHL, Kumpulainen (6-foot-2, 201 pounds) had 27 goals and 53 points. He led the Generals with 10 power-play goals, and scored a pair of goals in seven games with Finland in the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship.

With copper wire theft costing St. Paul more than $1 million last year and leaving darkened streets dangerous for pedestrians and drivers, city and county officials are holding a community meeting Tuesday.

Public Works Director Sean Kershaw said they’ve been seeing results from members of the public calling in suspicious activity around street lights and he’s encouraging people to continue. “Keeping eyes on the streets is really important,” he said Monday.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office has charged 19 people so far this year in copper wire theft cases, compared to seven throughout last year and two in 2022. Fourteen of the 19 cases this year were “prompted by citizen observations — something they viewed as suspicious — so they called it in,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.

State legislators have introduced bills this session that would require people to have a specific license for buying or selling copper scrap metal. They would have to acknowledge they obtained the copper by lawful means through their business, trade or authorized construction work. The bills haven’t yet had hearings in the House or Senate committees.

Warm winter meant wire thefts continued

During most winters, the frozen ground makes it difficult to steal wire, “however, with the warmer winter we have seen wire theft continue all year round,” said Lisa Hiebert, St. Paul Public Works spokesperson. “The challenge is that city crews cannot rewire street lights until the ground and conduits have fully thawed. This has led to quite a long list of areas throughout the city that need to be rewired in the spring.”

The St. Paul City Council approved $500,000 for this year’s budget to address wire theft, a portion of which will be used to hire two seasonal full-time electricians who will be dedicated to replacing wires stolen during theft.

The thefts continue to be a citywide problem, “but there’s no question that Como Park and Phalen as regional parks have been hit really badly,” Kershaw said. “That was the case previously and it’s still the case.”

Jenne Nelson, Como Community Council board chair, enjoys running around Como Lake, but darkened streetlights from wire thefts have caused her to readjust her schedule to go when it’s light out or run on a treadmill.

“The neighborhood is noticeably dark around the lake in a way that makes it feel completely unsafe” for visibility, she said. “I drive in the neighborhood after dark and it’s really hard to see pedestrians.”

In St. Paul’s North End, a 64-year-old pedestrian died on Christmas Eve in an area his widow said she’d called the city about being “pitch black.” A contractor had installed a new streetlight at the intersection on Dec. 15, but they hadn’t been able to connect it because of copper wire theft, Kershaw said at the time.

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The Como Community Council has been hearing from concerned residents.

“It’s clear there’s a lot of frustration around it and I think some of that does stem from feeling a little helpless, like ‘How are we going to fix this problem?’ ” Nelson said. “It feels like a long time to get the lights fixed and then they’re just immediately targeted again. It feels like an impossible game of Whac-A-Mole.”

In the community council’s communications with city staff and City Council, Nelson said she’s felt reassured that wire theft is also on their minds and that they’re working on it, but it “feels to me that in the short term, there’s not a lot we can do.”

Not only streetlights targeted

Thieves are targeting all different styles of streetlights, according to Hiebert.

The problem continues to extend to other sources — “they’re going after traffic signals, which is incredibly dangerous,” Kershaw said. “They’re going after phone systems, they’re going after utility vaults, they’re going after HVAC systems” and charging stations for electric vehicles.

Someone called police “just the other day because they found three large garbage bags of wire” marked with “city of St. Paul” in their backyard, said Deputy Police Chief Kurt Hallstrom.

St. Paul’s street lights are mostly owned and maintained by the city, so anyone who sees people “working” on lights without a city of St. Paul vehicle within view are asked to immediately call 911.

“We need to interrupt the flow of theft and sale,” Hallstrom said. “We need the community’s help and they’re stepping up and they’re making calls and we’re making arrests.”

In addition to the cases recently charged, another three are under review for potential charges, Choi said.

10 times the cost from 2019

Last year, wire theft cost to Public Works was more than $1 million to fix damaged street lights and traffic signals. That’s 10 times the amount from 2019, when the cost to Public Works was just over $100,000.

Public Works has tried various methods to deter wire theft from street lights, including welding and banding access panels, using security bolts and screws to secure access panels, keeping streetlights on to keep the wires electrified during the daytime, using smaller gauge wire to be less valuable for theft and resale, and silent alarms.

“All of these efforts have not prevented wire theft from street lights in St. Paul,” Public Works says on a website dedicated to wire theft information. “Some efforts have resulted in additional damage to the street light fixtures and/or just temporarily ‘moved’ the thefts to another part of the city.”

Public Works has explored changing street light fixtures to solar and plans a pilot program for this spring that will have access panels high on light poles.

“We found that when the public hears all of the things that we are currently doing to try and address it, they have a better sense of how complex the problem is,” Kershaw said.

Community meeting about copper wire theft

When: Tuesday, March 19, 6-8 p.m.
Where: St. Paul police department’s Western District office, 389 N. Hamline Ave.
What: St. Paul police and public works, the Ramsey County attorney and other elected officials will talk about what’s being done about copper wire theft and take questions.

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Take a gander at the Minnesota State Capitol Mall and you’ll find a lot of greenery, scattered statues and memorials, and a whole lot of quiet, but not much indication that its open space is actually open to the public.

Now imagine a reworked common area along the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., with gardens and symbolic plantings reflective of the state’s flora surrounding added tree canopy and more benches and picnic tables, the kind of gathering spot where a civic group might host a tour or gather for a demonstration. On the other side of the State Capitol building, a new pedestrian bridge could take visitors across University Avenue.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. “Community Commons” could be the first phase of what’s being advertised as “10 Bold Moves” at the Capitol Mall under the supervision of the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, which has zoning and planning control over the area around the State Capitol.

With $5 million already in hand, the board is working with some 18 partners, including the governor’s office, the city of St. Paul, the Capitol Region Watershed District, the Minnesota Historical Society and private planners.

‘Bold moves’

Those “bold moves” — which include both aesthetic and traffic changes to Rice Street, University Avenue and John Ireland Boulevard — build off a survey that drew some 1,400 responses, as well as pop-up presentations that took place from mid-January through mid-February.

The responses have been incorporated into a 179-page “Capitol Mall Design Framework” fashioned by the design firm of Sasaki Associates, Inc., available online at mncapitolmall.engage.sasaki.com. A “virtual town hall” on the framework took place last Thursday, and a second online survey closes April 5.

“We’re really looking for people to give us feedback on that phase one and the overall Capitol Mall Design Framework,” said Erik Dahl, executive secretary of the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board. “This is the people of Minnesota’s front lawn. What do people want to see?”

After that, the design could be ready for public showcase and final comments this June, and then rolled out at the end of the year. The installation of the Community Commons and tree additions in the Upper Mall would cost $4.5 million to $6.5 million, not including major utility changes or storm water improvements under Rev. MLK Jr. Blvd.

The state appropriated $5 million toward the project last year when it approved the $450 million renovation to the Minnesota House office building, and partners like the Capitol Regional Watershed could provide additional funds.

The goal, according to planners, is to make the Capitol Mall more inviting. In surveys, many respondents said they didn’t think they were welcome on the mall if they weren’t there for official business.

A year ago, the urban planner behind the YouTube show “CityNerd” listed the Minnesota State Capitol’s low-rise, “extremely low density” campus as one of the nation’s 10 worst state capitol layouts, given how little vitality it contributes to the area.

The 12-member Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board is seeking feedback on a proposed “Community Commons” that could sit in front of the Minnesota State Capitol Mall along the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in St. Paul. (Courtesy of the CAAPB)

History, gathering spaces above quiet reflection

Changing that perception likely would entail creating a space that’s more comfortable and fully accessible, according to planners, with the MLK “Community Commons” serving as its “nexus.” The mall also could be a model for Minnesota, showcasing best practices in environmentally-conscious design, while boosting the local economy by offering better connections to the surrounding area. More than a third of survey respondents listed adding food and beverage options as a priority.

For inspiration, designers with Sasaki looked to Boston City Hall Plaza and Boston’s Copley Plaza, Moore Square in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, the Chicago Riverwalk and the Texas State Capitol.

Most survey respondents scored priorities like having a place to learn about government and history or exercise first amendment rights to civic expression above maintaining the Capitol Mall as a place for quiet reflection or to honor the past. To that end, a cultural walk installed in the existing horseshoe-shaped path around the Capitol building itself could highlight the branches of government and the history of the people that have shaped Minnesota.

Planners noted that the Upper Mall and Lower Mall have notably different topography, with slopes along the Upper Mall exceeding a 5% incline and some exceeding 10%, a challenge for wheelchair users. They suggested “strategically sculpting” the Upper Mall to create new pedestrian routes, which would be accessible to the disabled and flow into the topography of the Lower Mall.

Survey respondents were fairly torn on how well-connected the existing Capitol Mall is to the surrounding city, with a fair number of respondents neutral on the subject. They had stronger feelings about the streetside perimeter on all sides of the State Capitol area, which many said felt unsafe due in part to cars and traffic.

Street improvements, connections to the neighborhoods

Planners noted that on the street surrounding the Capitol Mall, 77% of the public right-of-way is dedicated to cars. More than 80% of the Capitol grounds is covered in lawn, and tree loss has created less shade. More than a fourth of respondents urged designers to integrate dedicated spaces for security, as well as public safety enhancements such as lighting.

Reducing John Ireland Boulevard to two lanes and creating wider pedestrian pathways could be one improvement, and adding more of a plaza-like feel around the transit stops at Rice and University could be another.

A pedestrian bridge over University Avenue could serve as a link between the State Capitol campus and the neighborhood to the north. Between University and Charles avenues, northeast of the State Capitol building, the underused Cass Gilbert Memorial Park could be transformed into more of a destination, featuring a children’s play area, tree groves and perhaps even a coffee shop and restroom.

Chaired by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the 12-member Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board has zoning and planning control over the 60-block area surrounding the State Capitol. The “Capitol Mall Design Framework” process grew out of both the 2040 Comprehensive Plan for the Capitol area, as well as a public engagement task force, which convened in 2021.

Other major projects

Other changes to the State Capitol campus in the works include $20 million in upgrades to upwards of seven state buildings, readying them for a hybrid workforce. Planning is currently focused on four buildings on the Capitol campus. The former Ford Motor Co. building at Rice Street and University Avenue was demolished in early February to make room for new landscaping.

Directly to the west of the Capitol complex, the State Office Building that hosts the offices of the Minnesota House of Representatives is undergoing a $450 million renovation.

The legislation that made that renovation possible opened the door to the Capitol Mall Design Framework, among other community benefits. Working with the city of St. Paul, the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board plans to administer a $5 million “Capitol Area Community Vitality Account” to back a range of projects over time.

In the area of the Capitol building, “we have a lot of vulnerable renters, commercial and residential,” said Peter Musty, principal planner with the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board.

Also in the early planning stages, the redesign of Rice Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to John Ireland Boulevard would cost another $25 million, which has already been appropriated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “That’s exciting because it impacts so many things, including the (G Line/Robert Street Corridor) Bus Rapid Transit planned there and the Sears site development,” Musty said.

More information is online at tinyurl.com/MNCapitolMall2024.

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